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E39 (1997 - 2003) The BMW 5-Series (E39 chassis) was introduced in the United States as a 1997 model year car and lasted until the 2004 when the E60 chassis was released. The United States saw several variations including the 525i, 528i, 530i and 540i. -- View the E39 Wiki

While finishing the cooling system overhaul, I've decided to look at my thrust arms bushings, upon closer inspection i noticed the the bushes on both sides were installed incorrectly !!!

It looks like the PO had them installed at INDY, and the grease monkey went as far as marking the raised notch on the thrust arm, but failed miserably in aligning the arrow on the bushing with the notch on the arm, and i bet that he tightened the bushing bolt with the car on the lift I have been driving like that for a year now.

I immediately decided the pull the bushings out and replace them with new ones i already had purchased earlier. Pulling the bushings out isn't too bad, but having to maneuver the puller and constantly making adjustments while under the car wears you out.

Tomorrow morning i need to run to Sears to purchase larger puller, as the one in the picture is too small to press the new bushing in.

Bummer. I realize that removing the thrust arm requires removing the strut but it would be a LOT easier to remove the bushing on a bench vice under the car.

Very true, however i wanted to avoid dropping the knuckle and having to mess with removal of the ball joint. I'm planing to install new struts in the near future and at that time, I will install new thrust arms as well.

Hopefully the larger 6" Sears 3 jaw gear puller will make the installation of new bushing straightforward.

Any tips on how to position the bushing right before pressing the bushing in to keep it straight and lined up correctly? It seams very hard to " get it started" sort of speak.

Today I've picked up 2 arm gear puller from Sears ( $41. 99) Part # 46903 and the tool made this job a breeze. The 2 arm puller is lot easier to use than the 3 arm puller which requires lots of adjusting and finessing to make it sit right and work.

I've used 6" C-clamp to hold the thrust arm in place while pressing out the old bushing and pressing in the new one. C-clamp works great in holding the arm stationary, and its really quick to put on and remove.

I did not remove any plastic splash guards or brake air ducts, i simply pushed them aside with some considerable amount of force, and was able to remove and install the thrust arm bushing bolt. This saved me considerable amount of time.

Once everything was installed, I've lowered the car and weighted the driver seat. I was able the slide under the front bumper and tighten the thrust arm bushing bolt to approximately 81 Ft lbs, i did not use torque wrench due to limited space.

The car drives great and its good to know that my thrust arm bushings are installed correctly and torqued down while preloaded.

The previous must have replaced the bushings right before i bought the car ( purchased Dec 09 with 68). Hoverer, they were installed incorrectly, but they did last over a year
without signs of tearing or leaking fluid.

I replaced both front thrust arm bushings this weekend on my 2000 528i based on the jaw puller and cap solution (thanks for the great post). This worked like a charm on the first bushing but on the second bushing, the cap gave out (see pictures). So back to Lowes and scrounging around in the plumbing section I came up with a two piece replacement for the cap. The threaded cap (1 1/4") gave a much thicker steel base for the jaws bolt to dig in to. You can see the indent from the force needed to move the bushing in the picture of both pieces. The three inch diameter steel base (with 1/2" thread diameter) gave a nice broad area that made alignment with the bushing and jaws easier than the cap. Just another suggestion, worked great for me.

Good stuff right there, my cap was on its last leg as well but it got the job done. I like your set up, it does look lot stronger. The Craftsman 2 arm gear puller worked like a charm and put a big smile on my face!

Good stuff right there, my cap was on its last leg as well but it got the job done. I like your set up, it does look lot stronger. The Craftsman 2 arm gear puller worked like a charm and put a big smile on my face!

BMC530i, do you by the chance still have that sleeve to press bushing out? Can I rent it from you if possible?

Today I had planned to change my control are bushing on my 2006 650 and it seems the sleeve i received from BMW is slightly larger than the bushing. I have never pressed out a bushing before but it would seem the sleeve tool would need to be the exact diameter as the bushing to push it out, correct?

Why would you buy just the thrust arm bushings? Typically if they need replacement so do the ball joints on the other end of the arms. Its not that much more to buy the complete arm with the bushing and ball joint already installed. Takes 30 minutes to install each side.

Why would you buy just the thrust arm bushings? Typically if they need replacement so do the ball joints on the other end of the arms. Its not that much more to buy the complete arm with the bushing and ball joint already installed. Takes 30 minutes to install each side.

Ball joint seems fine, no rips no noise or grinding. Ill replace the arms when they go bad. Bushijngs are cheap and its easy to press them (if i had the right damn sleeve)

So you'll replace the arms all over again with new bushings when you need ball joints? Basically buying and doing things twice. Its dirt cheap to buy the entire arms and you knock everything out in one shot.

I won't even replace just the bushing on customer cars. Even though that ball joint looks fine, chances are it's on it's way out if the bushings had to be replaced. So you spend hours pressing bushings in and out, then a week, month etc later you replace the whole arm because the ball joint is failing. Much more cost effective and safe to just replace the entire arm.

I don't even bother replacing thrust arms without doing the control arms as well on my own car. Usually when one thing needs replacing the others do too, or at least they will soon.

To each his own though. I just don't like repeating jobs and buying parts twice.